SOUTHEND-ON-SEA CITY COUNCIL
From
legacy systems to meeting public digital demand
“ The world is changing and COVID-19 sped up the rate of change ”
CAROL THOMAS DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL & ICT , SOUTHEND-ON-SEA CITY COUNCIL
the delivery of more than 3,500 hours of training and providing suitable opportunities for collaboration in an environment where connectivity is key . Implementing cloudbased automation systems from Hornbill , a provider of cloud-based customer service solutions , was a key factor in driving productivity on the service desk .
“ It links in with all the strategies that we ’ ve put together ,” says Thomas . “ We started driving Microsoft 365 , plotting out remote and hybrid working by upping our levels of security . We also changed the way that people engage with IT .”
Maintaining a humble disposition , Thomas highlights the organisation ’ s new approach to project management , which resulted in the success of almost 100 projects and is yet to witness one fold . “ I think that ’ s relatively unique , because you see a lot of failed projects ,” she says , before commenting on the shift bringing teams closer together . “ We ’ ve changed the culture from a fear-driven culture to a high-performing environment , where people behave as if they ’ re family and we look out for each other .”
Further to Office 365 , Thomas references Microsoft Azure as a critical supporting tool for the digital overhaul of its legacy technology infrastructure , which provided the IT team with access to more data and the ability to share it across multiple applications .
124 December 2022